Well, it has been a very long two days. The plane ride was long and uneventful. Dinner and breakfast wasn't too bad, it was pretty good in matter of fact. We watched movies and Evan played some video games of course. I think we all only got about an hour or two sleep. It was a long flight and poor Evan with his long legs was a little cramped. By the end of the flight he was happy to get off the plane. Going through customs was easier then I thought. Finding our car rental place was an adventure though. It was in another terminal and there were no signs to direct us. Our car is a little red Peugeot. It was very comfortable and the back seat had enough room, for Evan's long legs. The car had a lot of automatic features, such as it tells you the day (both the day and the date/year) and the time, has automatic widow wipers (when it senses rain they come on and they go off when it senses no more rain), etc..

It is very interesting to see the signs English and Gaelic. Our adventures are just beginning can't wait to see what else trip has to offer!

Driving on the left side of the road, oh my! Sitting on the left side of the car is a little frightening. Greg slowly but surely got the hang of driving on the left hand; but using the Garmin in Dublin was more confusing than a help. Plus we are all sleep deprived and jet lagged. It was very confusing to find the parking garage that we had planned on using near Trinity college and the streets run in funny directions. Also, the street signs are on the side of buildings, which was difficult to find at times. We finally found the parking garage: Dawson Car Park, right across the street from the National Museum of Archaeology and History.; only €10 all day Sunday!

Our first stop was Trinity College to see Book of Kells, sometimes known as the Book of Columba. ) The book is a manuscriptGospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament. It was created by Celtic monks ca. 800 or slightly earlier. The line was long to get in, but moved quickly. The manuscripts were interesting to see and seemed well preserved. We also saw the long room where over 22,000 very old books are kept. The books were kept on shelves that were from the floor to the ceiling. Evan was even impressed.

We then headed to the Temple Bar district to have lunch at Gallagher's Boxty House, which was better than we expected. Ghriaire (Greg) had the Lamb Stew and a Guinness. We then walked down Grafton Street which was packed with people and street performers. Dubln itself is a clean, big city. We went to the National Museum but didn't stay as long as planned as we all three hit a wall and were exhausted. We did look at the exhibits on the 1st floor and saw the Tara Brooch. On a side note, Greg hurt himself in the museum - the heavy bathroom door closed on his arm, which gave him a gash. The museum staff took care of it and was very friendly. Greg is okay, his arm is just a little banged up. We then headed to Einniskerry to our B&B.

We are staying at the Brook Cottage. Being so tired, we got lost trying to find it, but after a quick call to Mary, the owner, we easily found the B & B.It is a little country house with a lot of charm. The owners (Mary and Jeff ) are very friendly and are originally from the US. Their dog, Sadie is very friendly. Evan played with her for a while. They gave a great recommendation for dinner since it was late, in "downtown" Enniskerry (this is a very small, quaint town). We ate at Emilia's Ristorante. It was a small 2nd floor restaurant with nice ambiance and had great Italian food. Italian food wasn't what I was initially thinking of having our first night in Ireland, but our choices were limited. The food was great! Evan had spaghetti and Greg and I had pizza.

We had a very peaceful nights sleep- it was very quite.. no city noises, which was nice. For breakfast we had the traditional Irish breakfast (egg, 2 pieces of Irish bacon, sausage, black pudding, roasted tomato and sauteed mushrooms). There was also yogurt, toast, tea and coffee. It was very good and filling! Mary and Jeff were great hosts.

We're off to Powerscourt, Glendlough and then to Killkenny for the night!

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Comments

vicki
on Jul 4, 2011 at 07:40PM

glad to hear from you have a great time. I took pictures of the edibles you sent. Have fun.

vicki
on Jul 4, 2011 at 08:23PM

forgot to tell U we had big storm yesterday. Some fireworks stands were distroed in henderson and south. Went to your place and everybody was fine. Take a lot of pictures for me and have a great time everything is fine here love and miss u guys.